The Animal Activism Workshops & Vegan Food Demo Series are Rowdy Girl Sanctuary’s last quarter events and will be used to spotlight animal activism that is going on in and around the Houston, Brazoria County and Galveston areas. We want to hear from organizations like PETA, The SAVE Movement, Anonymous for the Voiceless, Direct Action Everywhere and others that are making a difference in relieving the suffering of animals. We are looking for animal activists that are interested in presenting an activism workshop on the organization that they are affiliated with. The goal is to engage new budding activists to the scene and to engage in lively discussions with seasoned activists. ($20.00 each – FREE TO MEMBERS)

The other component of this series will be a Rancher Advocacy Program Workshop, Rowdy Girl Sanctuary’s signature program that was launched in June 2018. Renee and Tommy will talk about how their conversion from a cattle ranch to a vegan farm sanctuary has birthed a movement towards other ranchers wanting to change. There will be a presentation on what the RAP is, the services it provides, and how you can get involved to spread the RAP in your area. Q&A will follow.

Lastly, we will have a Vegan Food Demo with Michael May, who joined RGS in late July as a full-time animal caretaker. Michael will entertain you and serve you his fine vegan cuisine, all recipes that he has perfected from the Thug Kitchen Cookbook. Come hungry and ready to learn new and exciting tips on how to prepare vegan food for a crowd! ($10.00) Cost for the Meal.

Learn About our Workshop Leaders

Sarah Weldon – Vegan Outreach

Sarah leaflets and shows virtual reality videos to students throughout Texas and in several other southern U.S. states.

After serving for four years in the Marine Corps, Sarah left to pursue her bachelor’s degree at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. Watching The Cove in an English class compelled her to be a voice for animals. She became vegan in 2015 and has made it her life’s mission to see animal liberation.

After living in Michigan, Iowa, and South Carolina, Sarah returned home to Texas and is loving the vegan scene in Austin. Her heart is made whole by her two dogs, Ernie and Tucker, her cat, Miss Pippi, and her faith in God.

Dolly Vyas-Ahuja – Dairy is not Ahimsa

Dolly Vyas-Ahuja is an Ahimsa animal activist and a voice for the voiceless. Her mission in life is to spread awareness and education about the cruelty in the dairy industry. She comes from a Gandhian family and her grandfather was a freedom fighter for social justice in India. One of the greatest social issues of our time is speciesism. One of her objectives is to have Indian temples take the pledge of being cruelty free temples banning the use of dairy products. She wants to create a compassionate world where everyone lives by their essential nature which is compassion.

Connie Spence AKA The Vegan Batgirl

Connie, AKA Vegan BatGirl…some would call an uber activist…an activist who does major stunts every week, multiple times a week. Her most notable stunt, some call it the Vegan Batman Light…a Bat Signal that has been shone across the USA on giant blank walls. It’s a GIANT light that can project Vegan Messages up to 75 feet in diameter or 7 Stories to be seen a 1/2 mile away. Her very 1st light was displayed on the Los Angeles Farmer John Slaughterhouse, over the gates, in the courtyard reading in GIANT TEXT created from shadows and light “Animals fight for their last breath, just as we would in their place”. She has amazing pictures of her light along-side of major freeways in LA, on the Staple Center, on Las Vegas Hotels, in Arizona near the Talking Stick Arena and much more. Right now she lives in Beef Country, Tulsa, Oklahoma…unlike progressive mind-sets in California, she now deals with very aggressive Police and other individuals who make her activism extremely exciting to say the least.

She has done over 168 stunts and had over 67 police interactions, threatened arrest many times, had helicopters circle and shine their light at her, police drones monitor, as well as some public people try to run off with her equipment and even threaten to run over her with their vehicle. On the polar opposite side, she draws in many great conversations with people that see the message and realize that they never thought about animal suffering and with her encouragement want to change.

After years of veganizing people with her activism and seeing the Vegan Population increasing, she felt like animal suffering was something she’d see an end to in her lifetime, but then she discovered a DARK UNNOTICED TRUTH. The Agriculture Industry has removed Supply and Demand from their Industry and have what is called a Farm Bill that basically incentivizes the animal farmers to produce a surplus. Year after year they get more and more bailouts while dumping dairy, cheese and meat to the USDA to foot the bill using our taxes. Because of this, she just launched a Vegan Lobbying Group to fast-track change and to focus on reforming the next Farm Bill by 2022/23.

Aside for Animals and Activism, she has led a career in Advertising & Software Business Development for the last 15 years.

Mauricio Quiroga – Anonymous for the Voiceless

Mauricio has a bachelors in Business Administration and Finances. He holds a master’s degree in Science of the Information and Systems from the University of Saint Thomas, he is part of the Saint Isidore Society for academic excellence from Saint Thomas University. He also is an Aikido practitioner since 2003. He regularly attends Aikido seminars all over United States under the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba organization, recognized by Hombu Dojo in Japan.

Mauricio became an animal rights activist right after becoming vegan.

Organizes the Cube of Truth in Houston, is a volunteer for PETA having participated in many actions for PETA, participates in vigils with the Animal Save Movement and attended the Animal Liberation Conference in 2018. Mauricio also is a host for the Vegan World Radio show at 90.1 KPFT. His program focuses in interviews with local animal rights activists in the US and abroad.

Mike May

Michael began his passion for cooking and meal prepping in 2015. Unfortunately, he wasn’t vegan at the time, but it was very therapeutic. Jokingly, he claims that his time in the kitchen became a way for him to soothe his self-diagnosed OCD😉.

Michael’s dog, Tarzan was an integral catalyst in his transformation to veganism. On January 14, 2017, Tarzan, his golden retriever was born. Tarzan entered Michael’s life 8 weeks later and with Tarzan came his research and understanding of veganism. The more he delved into the subject the more he was convinced that a plant-based diet was changing people’s lives. So, he started his journey towards a plant-based diet selfishly, to improve his own health. He quickly realized that he was going to need variety, and it was during that time that he found “Thug Kitchen” cook books.

He started preparing and eating plant-based meals during the week and maintained his omnivore diet on the weekends. So far, he’s created over 50 “thug kitchen” dishes. The more he delved into veganism, the more he realized that not only was his personal health compromised, but so was the environmental global footprint, animal suffering and world hunger. As soon as he knew these facts, it just made plain common sense to him to go 100% vegan right then and there.

Today, he still loves meal prepping, and cooking but now he spreads the vegan message through his work, outreach and social media. He is reminded everyday why he went vegan, and why it is the only way to go. He’s an aspiring writer and journals his vegan experiences daily. In his spare time at Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, he prepares vegan meals from the “Thug Kitchen” cook books, and raves that they are the best cook books ever!

Not only will you get to eat whatever he cooks, but you will also get to learn his tips, tricks and creative expression in the Rowdy Kitchen.

Activism Workshop former Workshop Leaders

Dani Alexander – Peta

Dani first entered the activism community two years ago, when she volunteered to attend a local Rodeo protest. Since then, she has worked with local activism leaders and PETA organizers continuously. She has organized over 100 protests, demonstrations, and other actions, and is a regular attendee at actions all throughout the United States. Dani focuses on PETA style events and demonstrations and has a working relationship with several PETA organizers due to years of volunteering. She has worked on PETA campaigns against SeaWorld, Texas A&M dog labs, Animal Dissection in schools, and many others. She will be the guest speaker at the Phoenix Animal Rights March this year and plans to continue organizing and working in the animal rights community for the foreseeable future.